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An anonymous reader writes "Gazan resident Abed Ar-Rahman has revealed what he is claiming as an alternative to cooking gas that he developed since Israel has prevented deliveries of cooking gas to Gaza. He invented a device using chemical substances available in Gaza, which burn when mixed and brought into contact with oxygen. The first component is a metal filter that controls the interaction between 40% of the oxygen in the surrounding air, the inflammable substance and some other substances."

And we could use more CaO to burn more rock and then we could cook anything for free!...

I know you're trolling, but it doesn't work like that.

Limestone is a very common mineral, so CaO is relatively easy to acquire. The limestone must be prepped in a kiln. Limestone turns into CaO and CO2 at about 800 degrees F, which is not too difficult since that isn't very hot. The Calcium oxide must then be stored in an airtight container until it is used or it will deteriorate over time. I've seen active CaO ignite wood all by itself, so at least 451 degrees F is being generated by the reaction. If people placed CaO into an enclosed space to contain the heat generated by the reaction (even a little temporary oven made out of brick or rock would probably work) they could cook with it.

The first component is a metal filter that controls the interaction between 40% of the oxygen in the surrounding air, the inflammable substance and some other substances. He refused to reveal the exact substances used, fearing that they will not be allowed into the Gaza Strip.
The second part of his invention is an electronic board that regulates the percentage of air and oxygen entering into the appliance, and the third component is an air pump using electrical power.
The metal cannister could be refilled with the inflammable substance for no more than 40 NIS, which would make the home cooking device functional for up to 40 days, according to Farajallah.

This would be neat if true -- a garbage disposal sized obvject providing 40 days of cooking gas for 40 NIS, but just reading alerts every single "perpetual motion" bullshit detector in my head -- the 40% figure, the secret ingredients, etc.

His circumstances are tougher than usual for the genre; but this guy absolutely screams "quack". Secret ingredients, somewhat dubious technobabble(though that could be a translation artifact), flirtation with thermodynamic implausibility...

He refused to reveal the exact substances used, fearing that they will not be allowed into the Gaza Strip.

I'm not sure if he's full of it, or if his process uses substances just as objectionable to border security as cooking gas. Let's face it, Israel will figure out what the secret ingredients are, so I'm not sure what this is going solve. Maybe he's just trying to protect his invention until it's in production.

People do keep actual secrets secret as well; but anybody who has a mysterious fuel source of mystery, made by combining one common(but mysterious) substance with another and can't reveal it for fear of The Man, they tend to end up sharing a category in my mind with "the 100mpg water powered car that Exxon is covering up", "the universal herbal cancer cure that Big Pharma has killed for" and similar oh-so-very-plausible schemes.

It might be as simple as an acetylene generator and optimized burners, where the transported "fuel" is actually calcium carbide and the cooker would mix it with local water to generate the actual cooking gas. I imagine it would be very difficult to make that work in practice, but some similar clever chemistry could allow an apparently benign (and unblockaded) material to be used for fuel.

what does perpetual motion have to do with it? here in Southern California the monthly gas bill is around $12-30 per month (closer to $30 in the winter when the heater is on) for a 2-bedroom apartment. and according Google 40 NIS is $10.44932 USD. so it's really not all that revolutionary in terms of cost.

i'm not say that this technology can't be vaporware, but i don't see any "perpetual motion"-type pseudoscience indicated by the article. though, i do think if that he wants to help people he should make th

If the prevelence of 40 as a figure is what turns you off, note that semetic languages commonly use the number 40 as a non-literal figure meaning "many" and somewhere around that order of magnitude. However, translations commonly take this literally. Hence, the prevelence of "40 days" for Noah's ark, "40 years" in the desert, etc.

At least, this was the explaination I was given for why 40 appears everywhere in the Bible. Given that the person who told me reads it in the original, I tend to trust him when

At least, this was the explaination I was given for why 40 appears everywhere in the Bible. Given that the person who told me reads it in the original, I tend to trust him when it comes to linguistic nuances.

.

Is it so special to be able to read shakespearean english?

I mean, the King James isn't as easy as some of those new teenager bibles, but you can muddle through the -iths and thous with some trouble.

If the prevelence of 40 as a figure is what turns you off, note that semetic languages commonly use the number 40 as a non-literal figure meaning "many" and somewhere around that order of magnitude. However, translations commonly take this literally. Hence, the prevelence of "40 days" for Noah's ark, "40 years" in the desert, etc.

Sufficiently accurate for a religious text, but not at all appropriate for a technical description.

"Them". Say "some of 'them'", and you are on to something. Or do you maintain that each and every resident of Gaza all hate Israelis with all their breath? This article puts the lie to that notion, this one guy made a stove instead of a rocket.

And Israel has a blockade where aluminum and cooking gas ( from the article ) are not allowed in or in low supply. This punishes the "live and let live" types far more than the violent militant ones, *and* gives backing to any "the Israelis hate you, see what they are doing to you?" kind of rhetoric. ( Yes, that blockade is in reaction to violence from Arabs against Israelis, but A: this will lead to hatred, not a limitation to violence and B: the violence is in reaction ( as they see it ) to the occupation of their lands ).

All the reading I have done indicated to me that Hamas was elected mainly on the strength that they were not Fatah. The citizenry were tired of the corruption of Fatah, and had one real alternative open to them.

You're actually implying something I didn't say. However I was overly broad, in many cases however you'll find that 'metal shop' and 'rocket factory' are the same thing. Which is why there's a ban on aluminum(they key part in their rockets).

The fundamental problem is the non-violent ones voted in and decided that this is what they wanted. They are reaping what they've sown and with that, it'll end up being them who decide what to do about it. I really wonder what countries in the middle east would do if

Are you kidding? It's 5 to 1 at least: pro-palestine trolls get modded up faster than bullets and anyone who has anything positive to say about Jews or Israel is modded down almost immediately. It's a convergence of the left and right prejudices (held for different reasons) against Jewish peoples.

If your intent is to criticize Palestine's leadership, please qualify "they" as such (and I wholeheartedly agree). If you're suggesting the citizens of Gaza are bloodthirsty maniacs that choose to kill Jews over security and food, you're completely off-base. Palestinians may be misguided and exploited by their government, but like all people, they want personal and economic security. It's not productive for either side of the Arab-Israeli conflict to label each other maniacs and devils.

Do you seriously think rocket fuel is readily available for everyone on Gaza? That everyone on Gaza fires rockets at Israelis?

When 84% of Palestinians polled [nytimes.com] support the cold-blooded murder of unarmed Jewish students, you'll have to excuse me if I don't get much comfort from the fact that not all of them are launching rockets.

As for the rest of your comment, you should certainly be modded "flamebait", which means I probably should be taking the time to respond to you.

The current legitimately elected government of the Palestinian people have certain clues to their motives in their charter:

"Today it is Palestine, tomorrow it will be one country or another. The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying." (article 32)

"The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!" (article 7)

The palestinians have made their motives towards the jews, all jews, absolutely clear ever since they got the hell out of dodge so that the muslim nations nearby (read: just about everything else over there) could push the jews into the sea.

Where in the world is Osama bin Laden [wikipedia.org] features an interview with one of the Hamas leaders - he is very clear in saying that they don't resist the Jews - they resist the state of Israel. When asked for clarification, he says that this is not a religious war between the Jews and the Muslims, this is a nationalist war between the people of Israel and the people of Palestine.

So, whilst clearly there are some people within Hamas who agree with that particular quote from the Charter, there are also people, even w

Other than star trek reruns, mythbusters, and whatever's on the food channel I don't even watch TV.

Most of my family is in israel, some of my family is what could be called "palestinian" except that they just took an israeli citizenship and consider themselves israeli citizens and lived with the same people they had for centuries, and my mother is a naturalized israeli citizen.

My opinions come from LIVING there, getting bombed at the west wall, and having to get pulle

The poll you cite was carried out after attacks by Israel that killed 130 people in Gaza. That's 0.00025% of the Gaza population. In contrast, the 9/11 attacks killed 0.0001% of New York citizens.

So, imagine that the 9/11 attacks had killed 2.5 times more people, and then imagine polling New Yorkers immediately after the attacks on their feelings towards the group of people who carried out the attacks. Do you think you would get a different result?

It seems to be a good rule of thumb that the more loudly someone proclaims their disdain for FOX, the more likely they are to be a complete imbecile.

Because Fox is known for its accurate and unbiased reporting? This is the same Fox that ran serious reports with "experts" claiming that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim.

While I congratulate him for his invention, he could have used dung from the millions of sheep and camels in the region to make biogas. As a matter of fact these folks are already doing it. [youtube.com]

I hear waste from humans works too. The trouble with it being the stench and the potential for Hepatitis A spread.

Or a Quassam-rocket. One of those just killed two sisters aged 12 and 5.

And you might notice those girls were Palestinians. It's sort of sad, because when I saw that article, my first thought was "ha ha, you dumbass terrorists screwed up and killed your own." Then right after it I felt guilty because no child's death should be a source of laughter. I'm just so sick and damn tired of these asswipe terrorists. When they kill their own by accident, it's hard not to gloat.

That's the point. Had I linked to any Israeli victim of terrorism, some dumbass would've come out from somewhere to debate, that it is all Israel's own fault, that they shouldn't have built the country in "somebody else's desert", or that they should've just died [umb.edu] in the face of opposition, etc. This way, there is no such distraction.

Or, at least, it is much harder to make — blaming the deaths of Palestinian girls from a Palestinian-fired rocket on Zionist Entity is, of course, possible — had it not been for the occupation [umb.edu], there would've been no need for rockets, so there — but stretches credulity beyond most people's BS-meters. I'm sure, this explanation is being offered inside Gaza and, maybe, West Bank, but it would not work elsewhere. Or so one hopes...

The point is that using cooking gas requires a constant supply of cooking gas; smuggling in gas once is not enough, you have to constantly smuggle a large supply. Building this device requires smuggling in aluminium once. After that, they can burn whatever common non-blockaded chemicals it uses forever.

Sounds like it might be a form of the Fischer-Tropsch [wikipedia.org] process, a catalyzed chemical reaction in which synthesis gas (syngas), a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is converted into liquid hydrocarbons of various forms. You don't have to end up with liquid products. The catalysts are the things that would be the hardest to get in the Gaza area. You need electricity to run the process, but only intermediatly, to build up the product. The Germans made a lot of progress on this during WWII when their access to petro-products was cut off, yet the demand for POL was still high. The feedstock could be almost any organic material that can be volatilized, not necessiarily syngas, but the catalysts needed and the temperatures/pressures are a booger to work out.

The day after a Christmas dinner, most guys are producers of lots and lots of bio-gas.

Or you could take a man or two, put them in a vacuum-sealed vessel, and boil off the hydrocarbons. Sort of like a "reverse gas chamber". If you don't want to be inhuman, use politicians - even PETA won't complain...

The entire coastline of Gaza is barricaded by Israel, and has been so for a very long time. Not only that, but anything coming into or going out of Gaza, whether by land or sea, is controlled by Israel. (The only exception to this would be things smuggled back and forth via tunnels, etc., between Gaza and Egypt.

While I suffer some shame at resorting to wikipedia, no other sources are given as much credit, on/., to being impartial and correct. Neither of which, wikipedia, deserves. If you could point out somewhere this is contradicted, I would be very interested.

Imagine a high-density city with half a million people in the United States (say El Paso, Texas) being surrounded and blockaded by Chinese troops. And there are no effective restrictions on firearms ownership within the city. Could you guarantee that no Americans would get together and build weapons to fire at the Chinese guys? Even if the majority of citizens wanted to comply with the Chinese guys (and that's a big if), there would still be a small minority who would want to fight. Would it be right for th

Congratulations on totally missing the point. I will try to spell it out in more simple terms: In any city, but particularly one that is somewhat lawless with competing political and militia factions, it is not possible to control the actions of a minority. Manufacturing and launching these simple rockets could be carried out by less than 10 people. Punishing a city of 500,000 people for the actions of 10 is absurd.

I am struggling to make the point clearer. Maybe a car analogy would help.

Do you think that Americans would vote differently in the same situation? If an American city were controlled by a foreign military force, and during incursions [telegraph.co.uk] foreign soldiers had killed hundreds of civilians over the years? That entire extended families had been wiped out by shell fire that was just "a mistake" [bbc.co.uk]? Do you really think the American public would vote for a moderate leadership under those conditions?

You might have a point if the United States military controlled Mexican airspace, seaspace, all borders, and prohibited the import of metals and oil into Mexico. And in that hypothetical situation, some small number of Mexicans chose to fire rockets into Texas. Does that make collective punishment right? And to switch the players around - if Texas were under the military control of Mexico, and its ports blockaded, and some Americans fired rockets across the border, would it be still right for the Mexicans t

Does not stop Israel-bashers from demanding, that: "Israel respect UN-resolutions". That the country's enemies refuse to accept this very first resolution on the subject is rarely noticed.

Interesting contrast isn't it? Israel is condemned for not following UN-resolutions while her neighbors remain at war with her (honorable exceptions: Jordan and Egypt) and the Palestinians choose to be represented by a group whose charter specifically calls for the destruction of Israel.

(IsraelNN.com) The Israeli Navy Monday morning blocked a Libyan ship trying to challenge Israeli sovereignty over Gaza coastal waters by landing at Gaza with 3,000 tons of food and medicine. The Foreign Ministry confirmed that it stopped the ship around dawn and that no force was necessary.
"The Navy warned the ship that it was approaching prohibited waters and it decided to turn back," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levi said.

In late August, two boats arrived in Gaza despite Israeli threats to stop them. Israeli Foreign Ministry officials said at the time that there had been a last-minute decision to let the boats through to avoid a public relations debacle at sea, and not to play into the hands of people they described as provocateurs.
This time, too, Israeli officials had stated that the boat would not be allowed to reach Gaza, and that the Free Gaza trips would not become routine. Yet the boat was allowed to proceed without hindrance once again.
"It was decided at the highest levels to allow them to enter," said Yigal Palmor, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, without further explanation.

Dignity, a small boat carrying activists, was allowed to sail into Gaza on Tuesday, less than a week after the navy stopped a Libyan cargo ship from entering the Palestinian port and after police prevented a group of Israeli Arabs from embarking for the Strip from Jaffa.
Palestinian fishermen welcome...
Palestinian fishermen welcome a boat carrying members of a previous activist ship, upon its arrival at Gaza port earlier this month.
The boat left Cyprus on Monday night, and was organized by the Free Gaza Movement, which has successfully sailed three ships into the Strip in recent months.

We do respect the result of their election. The result was the Gaza strip being run by terrorists, which we're not keen on giving money too. If the Gaza strip wasn't so reliant on handouts, they might not care about our lack of recognition. However, they are so reliant.

Which came first? Jerusalem's Grand Mufti in 1948 (al-Husayni) did. While he was in prison at the time for war crimes including his collusion with Hitler, he still had enough influence to have his followers start attacking Jewish settlements and begin the Arab Israeli War when partitioning took place in Palestine. He also was a main lobbyist and negotiator for organizing the Arab countries that declared war on the new state of Israel. He is the one responsible for ordering Palestinians to leave the area for refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank. That is even after the new Israelis recognized their rights to land and living in the area now known as Israel. The Palestinians living in the Israeli side of the partitions were guaranteed to keep all their lands and sources of income by the Israelis. The Arab leaders, including al-Husayni, started the fight and told the Palestinians to move aside while they kicked the Jews into the sea... which of course didn't happen. When they were unsuccessful, Jordan annexed the West Bank portion of the Palestinian homeland outlined in the partitioning treaty, and Egypt took the Gaza strip. And they refused to let the Palestinians stay anywhere outside the refugee camps for the longest time. In some places they were never allowed to live outside the refugee camps... never allowed to become citizens of the countries where the camps existed. Yes, Arab countries treated the Palestinians worse than the Israelis would have. The Israelis would not have done anything other than let the status quo of life as usual happen.

And by the way, there was NO country called Palestine before annexation, and the Palestinians didn't lose anything. They were living in areas claimed by other countries and never had the status (for a couple thousand years) of citizens of a Palestinian state in all that time. Partitioning carved a space out for both sides. But no-one had to move. The choice was their own. And now they have the Gaza strip and the West Bank back. But they still want to fight for something they never had before, simply because the others there are Jews. They should grow up, get control of their emotions like a civilized people, and stop with the bullshit rocket attacks. Then there will be peace. The Israelis, like anyone being beaten by a person who can't contain their own hysteria, can only take getting hit so many times before replying in kind.

So which came first? The Grand Mufti's thugs and prideful Arab countries were the cause of the Palestinian's grief.

If you care to read the Balfour declaration of 1917, stating that the British government "view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people", you would realize that there was indeed a land called Palestine since 1917. Go back even further, the crusades, where do you think they were headed? Read an accurate history book for a change. And let me enlighten you one last time, Winston Churchill, before the Palestine Royal Commission, said the following: "I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place." In effect, Palestinians are the dogs in your manger, been there for 2000 years give or take. It is interesting to see how you chose to dispose of them.

The Kingdom of Israel was a result of an invasion from Egypt by former slaves who at the time may or may not be considered Jews. At least Moses had his troubles convincing them not to worship golden calfs while he was away picking up the latest news from God... The Philistines were there when they first arrived.

The irony is that most people who are classified as Palestinians have never been to Palestine and neither have their ancestors - ie they're genetically diverse and not at all a "people group".

The "Palestine" people are mostly just Arabs from Egypt, SA, Jordan, and the other surrounding Arab countries who were slow to revert from nomadic lifestyles - basically, Arab gypsies. They were a nuisance to the Arab states, and Israel provided a seemingly convenient (in that they could use them against the Jews) place to get rid of them.

The actual "Palestinians" are mostly integrated amongst Israelis; if it wasn't for the media's focus on the Palestinians as a group, they likely wouldn't even be identifiable as anything other than "naturalized secular Arab-Israeli" by this point.

Nazi's used humans for experimentation. Nazis put people in rail cars so full that people suffocated. Nazis had people in camps where they starved them to the point that they looked like walking skeletons. Nazis cooked live humans to commit genocide. Nazis used chemicals to gas people to death. Nazis used human skin for lamp shades. Nazis used human hair for pillows.

You have no logical argument stating anyone stole any land from a Palestinian. Unless of course you want to point that accusation at Jordan or Egypt. You don't have any argument. Your statement is pure bullshit.

Yes, and America stole California from Mexico. History will not aid us in this question. The only way out is through dialog between parties who are committed to peace and freedom for all. Until that dialog begins, I think the "terrorism"/"oppression" (killing of innocents on both "sides") will continue.

There were in fact Palestinian people who lived on that land who were in fact moved by force away from that land unjustly. Now I am not saying that the formation of the new nation of Israel on the whole was unjust I am merely saying that parts of it were.

The fact that a mention of the mere possibility that it might be gets a call for an apology highlights the presence of injustice and a lack of tolerance for other views.

Your comment modded up to +5 is the proof how even selfproclaimed logical geeks are just hypocrites specializing in maths.

I hate this argument, and people who give this argument. I hate when people say to me that India was in medieval age before British came, made most of the rails and taught English, which is why they do have some jobs. I hate those who say Monks were ruling Tibet with iron fist before Chinese came and modernised it.

And hey! Jews didn't move "back". They moved. There was study proving this

Systematic genocide would require relatively equal distribution in death statistics. Instead the palestinian death statistics are confined almost exclusively to males age 13 and higher. Unlike the israeli statistics with show a much more normal distribution among gender and age, almost as if someone was attempting to commit genocide and just failed cause they suck at it.